Canadian duo turn on the style in Athlone

For several weeks, Canadians Melissa Bishop and Shawn Barber were touted as potential stars of the AIT International Grand Prix, and in front of a capacity crowd in Athlone last night, the pair duly delivered.

Bishop moved to the front at the start of the women’s 800m and the world silver medallist looked effortless throughout as she eased away from her rivals, coming home a facile winner in a Canadian indoor record of 2:00.60.

Her countryman Shawn Barber was equally dominant in the men’s pole vault, the reigning world champion soaring over a stadium record of 5.79m to take victory ahead of Sam Kendricks.